Foreign News: THE GLORY OF PLUMBING

One of the world's most important cities (to the U.S. position in world
strategy) is Mukden, capital of Manchuria. Last week Mukden was
virtually under Communist siege. If it fell, the Communists might well
carve Manchuria from China and incorporate it into the Soviet bloc.
TIME Correspondent William Gray went to Mukden to see how the war was
going. His report:

Mukden is subzero country at this season. A ragged blanket of snow
spreads over the surrounding plain; canals and streams are ice. The
wind cuts through the warmest clothes. Yet there seemed to...